Page 10 November 2012
www.thesoutherncross.org.au
The
Southern Cross
By Jenny Brinkworth
| living catholic
The Southern Cross continues its Living Catholic page which features articles and photographs highlighting the many good works that often go unnoticed but make a big
difference to people's lives and to the community in general. Parishes are invited to submit suggestions for stories that demonstrate in a practical sense Living Catholic.
Please send an email to cathcomm@adelaide.catholic.org.au.
For 32 years Des Hogan has been counting
the money for the Brighton parish -- rising
early to join his fellow counters at the
parish office on Monday mornings. And for
about 20 years before that he was a regular
Sunday night counter.
After turning 90 in September Des had a
bout of the flu and decided it was time to
hang up the boots and have a sleep-in on
Mondays -- until 7am he reckons.
A stickler for time, Des would rise at 6am
and was always on time for an 8.30am start
("I don't know why we had to start that
early," he quipped.)
Fellow parishioner Brian Crowe said his
team would be half way through sorting
the envelopes and Des would have already
finished his notes and coins.
Des and his wife, Mary, (pictured) have
been part of the Brighton parish for about
60 years, although when their children were
young they attended Mass at Sacred Heart
College Chapel, which was just a stone's
throw from their home in Chopin Road,
Somerton Park.
After moving to Seacliff in 1980, they
began attending Mass at St Joseph's
Church, Brighton, and when Des retired at
the age of 58 from the Federal Arbitration
Inspectorate he soon got roped into joining
a team of parishioners counting the money
from the weekend collections at the parish
office every Monday.
An experienced Sunday night "counter",
Des said he was pleased to have something
to "keep my brain going" and his speciality
was counting the stole fees (for baptisms,
weddings and funerals).
"We've had a few mishaps but I won't go
into those...and there were plenty of jokes,"
he said.
Brought up in Glenelg, Des attended St
Mary's Memorial School in High Street and
was an altar boy at Our Lady of Victories
Church. He completed his studies at Sacred
Heart College and worked for a chartered
accountant who was company secretary for
a number of gold mine companies.
Des recalled going from a salary of 15
shillings a week as an office boy to 6
pounds a week doing the payroll and other
office manager jobs at a mine in Western
Australia. After six months he came back
home to join the Air Force and served in
New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies.
A keen yachtsman, he met Mary, a nurse,
at a Glenelg Sailing Club annual ball and
they were married in 1951. They had five
children: Kieran, twins Justin and Brendan
(deceased), Michael and Margaret.
David Shepherd and Emily Mutusva and
their young family of four children are at
the helm of connecting a growing and
diverse African Catholic community in
the northern suburbs of Adelaide through
prayer, music and language.
The couple from Zimbabwe recently
helped set up a rosary prayer group of
African families from the Elizabeth Parish.
The rosary group, which is open to all
parishioners, met at the Mutusva's family
home in Craigmore in September.
David said about 10 families had been
gathering together for the past four
months in a bid to maintain their faith and
cultural roots through language, song
and prayer. He said the families rotated
the prayer gathering from home to home,
singing and praying the rosary in Shona
(their Zimbabwe language) and playing
instruments.
"The children are heavily involved in the
singing and music and it's a way to ensure
they remain connected to their heritage
and their faith," said David. "It's also a
great support network for African families
who are often in search of a cultural
connection to their faith and language."
David and Emily migrated from Zimbabwe
with their eldest son Shepherd Jnr
Munashe, who was aged one at the time,
to Broken Hill in 2002.
After working there for four years, the
couple moved to Adelaide to give their
growing family more opportunities and
immediately joined the Elizabeth Parish.
The parish is home to a growing
community of migrants from Burundi,
Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Liberia
and Tanzania.
David is a special education and English
teacher at Elizabeth Vale Primary School
and Emily is a nurse at the Lyell McEwen
Hospital.
Their children are enrolled at Catherine
McAuley School at Craigmore where
David is a parish representative of the
school board. Emily also served on the
board, and with her husband were the first
African-born parents to sit on the school
board.
The family attends Mass at St Thomas
More Church each week and often daily
during the school holidays. David and
Emily are members of the pastoral council
and Eucharistic ministers. They are also
involved in assisting the African parish
community with children's liturgy, baptism,
the choir and Eucharistic ministry.
The couple said a tradition of strong family
connections, hard work and a willingness
to serve others was fundamental to their
core values.
"Something that I learned from my
mother was to help people from diverse
backgrounds," said David.
"As a child I remember many different
people would come to our house for
assistance. She would always help
and was always talking about being a
shepherd and a leader and that taught
me to serve others and to lead through
example."
OPEN HOUSE: The Mutusva family recently hosted an African rosary group in their
home. (L-R) Ignatius Simbarashe-Simba (5), Godfrey Kudarwashe (1), Emily, David
Shepherd, Shepherd Jnr Munashe (10) and Louise Tina-Tinashe (7).
Shepherds of the African community
Counting
days over
By Rebecca DiGirolamo